Fastest Thing Alive
by Stiv Thermal
Summary: Sonic is forced to adapt to life when he wakes up in a completely different world to the one he once knew. *Not just another ''different, new, scary world'' fic* *Urm, yeah, reformatted story, so u can read it better now.*
1. Default Chapter

Characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, Sally Acorn, Tuftee Acorn, Doctor Ivo Robotnik / Doctor Ovi Kintobor, Tekno the Canary, Porker Lewis, Amy Rose, Shorty the Squirrel / Shortfuse the Cybernik are copyright to Sega / Sonic Team / Sonic The Comic / Fleetway comics. Same goes for existing zones and places from Mobius mentioned.  
Story and all other characters mentioned are copyright to the author: Michael Stewart Stephenson, 2001.  
Do not redistribute without the authors consent.  
Contact on: Stiv_Thermal@hotmail.com  
  
Key: 1 Mobium = 20p sterling.  
Chapter 1:   
  
Fastest Thing Alive  
  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Go for it pixel-brain!" A blast of pure energy exploded from the point where the two fastest runners on Planet Mobius took off in opposite directions to each other. One of them was Sonic, the legendary fastest thing alive, the other being his closest contender and best mate, Tails, the flying fox.  
The blue blur powered his legs to their usual several hundred beats per minute. After the first few minutes, he had covered about nine hundred miles and showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down. Indeed, this was the best part of the patrol, the 'runners high' was just beginning to really kick in and a dull roar started up behind him, the unmistakable sound of a true sonic boom.  
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, the slightly smaller orange blur literally flew at about three quarters of Sonic's speed, moving at about a metre off ground level. There was no sonic boom in Tails' wake, but he didn't expect there to be one, he wasn't moving at nearly enough velocity to equal the speed of sound. Tails had spent the last six years trying to match the speed of Sonic, but it seemed impossible, the nearest any Mobian apart from Tails had come to Sonic's speed was 73mph, nowhere near the average speed Sonic managed to attain of 770 mph, or mach 1.015. Tails held the second fastest record of 486 mph and was proud of it.  
Sonic grinned to himself as he tore through the Lava Reef Zone, being careful to dodge the steaming lava pools in his path. He still called Tails pixel brain, it was a long running joke between the pair, Tails actually had one of the most creative minds of all time, all he did with his spare time was create machines and various devices, rivaling that of Robotnik.  
Actually, thinking of Robotnik while in the Lava Reef Zone brought an old memory back to Sonic. About five and a half years ago, Robotnik had lured Sonic to the border of the Lava Reef Zone and had set up a death ray to aim straight at the Emerald Hill Zone, forcing Sonic to race half way around the planet in five seconds flat if he wanted to stop the total destruction of South Island.   
He thought back to that day, how he felt when he had finished the run. As he reached the edge of the Magma Coast, (where magma and water met and formed a huge solid cliff of steam) he reduced his speed drastically and jogged over to the bridge that connected this continent to the one over the sea. The road was more or less totally clear, a road that was fifteen metres or so wide and about eighty miles long stretched out in front of him.  
He began to smile again as he stretched his legs, cracked his knuckles, bent down into a starting stance. He allowed the adrenaline to flow freely through his veins. Now this was not what he was supposed to do on patrol, he was supposed to look out for any new schemes that Robotnik was cooking up, (although they hadn't heard anything from Robotnik in the last seven months or so) but Sonic had been taken hold of by the moment, this was going to be something he could enjoy.  
He lifted his head to scan the distant horizon.  
He'd never thought of himself as an adrenaline junkie, but now, as he felt the shiver run up his spine and felt his heart began to beat that much faster, he savoured the moment. For about half a millisecond, then streaked off across the bridge in the direction of the Metropolis Zone, faster than the eye could see.  
Seven minutes later, the lush green grass of the Emerald Hill Zone rustled gently in the slow breeze. On the edge of the Forest Hill Zone, a sound like a strong wind started up in the distance and made itself increasingly prominent, in under two seconds it was a roar and the wind increased enough to make the heavy trees sway. The dense foliage that made up the border between the Forest Hill and the Emerald Hill shuddered and suddenly burst open as something very blue and very, very fast shot through and screeched to a halt, leaving burning skidmarks, at least twelve metres long, in the grass.  
Fastest he'd ran in a while. Nowhere near how fast he'd ran when that satellite was at large, but still equaling at least three times the speed of sound…  
"Now that's what you call supersonic speeds." Sonic thought as he stretched his arms and wheeled them around in the direction of the breeze. He tried to remember when he had last felt this breathless, before he came to the conclusion that he just hadn't. He quickly regained his composure before anyone could wander along and see him and walked slowly over to the clear blue Emerald Village Pond. He pulled off his sneakers and dipped his feet in. His feet didn't need to be cooled off, the soles and in-soles of his shoes made sure to completely cut out friction, keeping his feet at a relatively normal temperature when he ran. Nonetheless, it seemed the normal thing to do after just running a circle around the planet at an estimate of three times the speed of sound.  
"Hey, Sonic!" Shouted Sally Acorn as she walked out from the path to the nearby Emerald Village. "Is something wrong with your shoes?"  
Sonic smiled and waved a greeting to Sally.  
"No way, Sal. Still as perfect as ever, just like their owner. Where you goin'?"  
Sally shrugged and smiled. "Over to the Green Hill Zone." She motioned to the direction of the Green Hill Zone, a ten minute walk - for a normal person - to the west of the Emerald Hill Zone.  
"Gotta check on my little bro, he moved in with his girlfriend last week."  
"Tuftee? He's only sixteen isn't he?" Sonic put his sneakers back on, running his fingers along the side of the right one. He stood up, leaned against a palm tree and folded his arms.  
Sally laughed. "You can still pull off that 'reckless teenager' look, Sonic. Oh, yeah. That's 'cos you still are a reckless teenager."  
Sonic dropped his arms. "And Tuftee…..?"  
"Yeah Tuftee's only sixteen, so is Jenny. But still, they seem pretty serious about it, very insistent anyway." Sally shot an imaginary gun at Sonic. "Anyway, gotta go."  
Sonic sprung himself off the tree. "Seeya later then." He walked over to Sally, holding out his hand for a high-five, Sally gave him one and went on her way in the direction of the Green Hill Zone.  
Sonic turned and started in the direction of the Emerald Village, thinking about Tuftee, and laughed when he remembered the time he had run off to the Marble Zone with a pair of Sonic's old sneakers. See, Kintobor had thought ahead when he had developed Sonic's sneakers, he made a pair for every shoe size, the soles themselves would survive a nuclear blast, and would probably last forever, but Sonic's feet would grow as he got older. Anyway, Sonic had grown out of the size that Tuftee had just happened to grow into at the same time. He had found the shoes while at one of Sonic's parties and had run off to the Marble Zone to dispose of a few badniks, thinking himself a hero because he had Sonic's shoes on. He managed to destroy one badnik before he got trapped, and was on the brink of becoming an 'organic battery' when Sonic showed up to rescue him.  
"Yes that one's always been trouble." Sonic thought, it was hard to believe that that was over six years ago.   
He reached the end of the path and stepped into the Emerald Village. The smell of fresh fruit and vegetables was high on the air. Or more to the point, Sonic noted, fresh chilli dogs.  
He sauntered over to the best stand in the village centre, possibly his favourite spot in the Emerald Hill Zone, a ten foot high structure in the shape of a hamburger.   
No-one else was around, so Sonic got the fast service he loved so much about this place.  
"One chilli dog please, extra-"  
"-Chilli." Joe, the walrus behind the counter finished for him. "Coming up, Sonic."  
Sonic smiled, he had been coming here since before he could remember, just about every day, ordering the same thing. Joe had a good right to know what he was going to be cooking up for Sonic.  
"So, Sonic, anything new?" Joe asked as he flipped the hot dog into a bread roll.  
"Nope, kinda boring, I need more action." Sonic began to tap his foot out of habit.  
"That sounds like you alright, Sonic. And here's your chilli dog." He said as he handed the 'dog over to Sonic.  
Sonic took the chilli dog and finished it off within a minute, ignoring the heat of the chilli on his tongue. "Thanks Joe, same price as usual?"  
"Same, as ever, four mobiums."  
Sonic gave Joe the usual four mobiums, waved and set off back out of the village, thinking Tails would be back any time now.  
And indeed, after lounging around next to the Emerald Village Pond for ten minutes or so, a faint noise like helicopter rotors on steroids began to become apparent, you could probably only hear it if you were listening for it, and had heard it pretty much every day for the last twelve years.  
Sonic opened his eyes as the noise became louder, and was just able to hear footsteps pounding and the whirring vanishing as Tails the fox landed and continued to move at several hundred miles per hour. The pounding slowed and Tails appeared from behind a hill, making a probably better controlled halt than Sonic, but nowhere near as cool. And no burning skidmarks. 


	2. Fastest Thing Alive Chapter 2

Characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, Sally Acorn, Tuftee Acorn, Doctor Ivo Robotnik / Doctor Ovi Kintobor, Tekno the Canary, Porker Lewis, Amy Rose, Shorty the Squirrel / Shortfuse the Cybernik are copyright to Sega / Sonic Team / Sonic The Comic / Fleetway comics. Same goes for existing zones and places from Mobius mentioned.  
Story and all other characters mentioned are copyright to the author: Michael Stewart Stephenson, 2001.  
Do not redistribute without the authors consent.  
Contact on: Stiv_Thermal@hotmail.com  
  
  
Fastest Thing Alive  
  
  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"So, you think it's trouble Kintobor?"  
"Well it's definitely trouble, Sonic." The hologram of Kintobor turned to a keyboard panel and began to type a series of instructions into it. The Kintobor program had gone through a few upgrades in the last year. Together, Porker Lewis and Tekno had revamped the system completely, the Kintobor hologram now had a body and could move freely around the Emerald Hill control centre thanks to a holographic emitter implanted in the middle of the ceiling. He could also interact with the computer panels and screens in the base, making it easier for the others to access files.  
Sonic walked over to the screen Kintobor was looking at, all he could make out was a series of seemingly random numbers and letters, but Kintobor assured him it meant trouble. Sonic took his word for it, thinking Kintobor should understand all this stuff, after all, he was the one programmed to link in with it all.   
"It's something like a huge power surge in the East Metropolis Zone. I'm trying to get a visual, but I'm still new to this upgraded control system. I think I've nearly got it." Kintobor peered at the list of numbers he had typed. "Ah, that thirty-two's supposed to be a seven."  
A few years ago, the Metropolis Zone had been thought too large to be named as one Zone, so a petition was passed to split it into four different Zones. The residents agreed to the policy, but they still liked the name, so it had been split into four Zones, the North, East, South and West Metropolis Zones. Collectively known as the Metropolis District.  
Sonic just stared blankly at the screen in front of him, he didn't notice anything when he was in the Metropolis District, but then again, he didn't notice anything much, running at a thousand or so miles an hour.  
Kintobor continued to type.  
"Oh stuff it, I'll find out soon enough." Sonic jumped down the hatch and streaked off in the direction of the Metropolis Zone, freely displaying the kind of recklessness he probably should have grown out of by now.  
Kintobor took no notice of Sonic's departure and calmly changed the thirty two to a seven and pressed a large yellow button, the screen flickered and formed a fuzzy picture. As it cleared, Kintobor's eyes widened, he took a step backwards to the main console in the centre of the room, showing a hologram of Mobius, he touched the sphere and it zoomed into a map of the Emerald Hill Zone. He located the house of a certain twin tailed fox and activated the intercom system.  
"Um, Tails? Sonic's in the East Metropolis Zone, I think he might need a little help on something. I'll get Amy and Shorty, you'd better get there fast."  
  
Sonic had decided to go easy on the running speed after his little adventure earlier, although he still scorched the ground slightly as he moved across it at his more average 770 miles an hour. He would reach the East Metropolis Zone in about four minutes.  
Tails set off as soon as Kintobor told him he'd better get there fast, he'd be there in about six minutes.  
Amy didn't really have any speed powers, going as fast as she could all the way, it would have taken her about two days to reach the East Metropolis Zone. Luckily, Shorty was on hand, the new cybernik armour Tekno had built for him enabled him to fly at about four hundred miles an hour, slower than Tails, but still extremely fast. Shortfuse, carrying Amy, would get there in about six and a half minutes.  
Trouble is, a lot can happen in four minutes.  
  
Sonic slowed his speed as he neared the Metropolis District, he took the turn left and was in the East Metropolis Zone in under twenty seconds. He stopped and looked up quickly at the huge skyscraper that was the Metropolis City Tower, about a quarter of the whole planet's business was managed within the 218 storey structure. At either side of the tower, huge walls separated the East and West Metropolis Zone, where he currently stood, it was impossible to see over them and just as impossible to get through them, where the walls ended, a forcefield reached up into the sky, only stopping at the edge of the atmosphere, not even letting sounds pass through.. For security reasons apparently. The only way to the East Metropolis Zone was through the tower. The tower didn't seem to be the problem that was supposedly occurring somewhere in the Zone. Of course, the East Metropolis Zone had to be the biggest and busiest Zone on Mobius, apart from the North Metropolis Zone. If something was going wrong in the Zone, it would take ages to find out where because of the sheer size of it, or at least it might have done if it was totally devoid of life, as it happens, it wasn't.  
"HEEEEELP!" A shout from one of the windows in the tower. Sonic craned his neck to look up and was barely able to see a figure leaning out of a window on this side of the tower, about 120 storeys up. Actually, looking up at the top of the building made him notice something, a wispy cloud of smoke coming up from the other side of the tower. Sonic hurried to the main doors on this side of the tower, only realising as he got near that the solid megatal shutters were solidly stuck over the doors. There was no way Sonic could get through the doors, megatal was the hardest substance known to Mobius, the same stuff a cybernik's armour was made out of. Totally indestructible and impenetrable. Sonic knew he had to get through to the other side, but the only way was through those doors. He took a few short steps back, trying frantically to think of a way to get through. Really there was only one other way, and it wasn't the most sensible suggestion in the world. The walls were made of concrete, recorded as five metres thick. Sonic considered his other options, which didn't take long, there weren't any. He needed to get through those walls fast, and there was no-one else who did 'fast' quite as well as he did. He ran back about fifty metres, returning to the edge of the Metropolis District, took a deep breath and revved his legs on the spot. The energy he built up around him when he did this was phenomenal, the maneuver itself was unique to Sonic, it somehow allowed him to build up energy, when he had enough, it was instantly absorbed into him and allowed him to accelerate to top speed in milliseconds, it took him roughly three seconds before he had enough energy, then, all within a second, he stopped, stood and burst forward at sonic boom speed. Straight towards the wall. He was within metres of it when he pulled himself into a tight ball of whirring blue spikes, putting into effect his oldest and most reliable move of them all, the Super Sonic Spin Attack. The last time he had done this was months ago, but it was just like riding a bike to Sonic, he would never forget how to Spin Attack.  
"Actually," Sonic thought as he was inches off hitting the wall, "If I went back to the base, I could get in contact with Shortfuse and he'd probably be able to blast his way though this wall." Unfortunately, now there was no turning back. He was centimetres off hitting the wall at about 700 miles an hour.  
"Oh, shiiiiiiiit!" He shouted as he hit the wall with the force of a tank blast, shutting his eyes tight against the impact.  
  
"Tails?" Shorty shouted into the distance. Activating his cybernik scanners to search for the fox. He picked up a small green blip at the East metropolis border, with Tails' life sign, so he flew straight in the direction of the North Metropolis Zone, gently but firmly gripping onto Amy with his cybernetically enhanced arm.  
"Shorty, what about Sonic? Are there any signs from him yet?"  
Shorty could pick up no sign whatsoever of Sonic, but he could hardly tell Amy that.  
"I think there's something over there, but there's a hell of a lot of interference around this place."  
Amy settled for this. "Right, Sonic will be OK, let's find Tails."  
They rounded a corner to find a mass of rubble, lying on the floor. "Urm, Amy?"  
"What, Shorty?"  
"We found Tails."  
Shorty checked his scanner again, the fox's life sign dimmed, then vanished completely. 


End file.
